Needle In A Haystack

I'm a glutton for punishment, I swear. In the midst of planning for the Gala plus prop work for the first show of the season, we took a long weekend and went away to Redbarn Farm to see the fam. And to celebrate Big Monkey and my 11th Anniversary by driving to Asheville for the afternoon. It's only an hour and a half away from Upcountry South Carolina (crazy how the land lies/roads go) so an easy drive from the farm. We had a wonderful time, drank too many really good ales, and want to go back for twice as much time with four times as much money.

Which, since I took the trapped time in the car to actually do our budget together, we know we have none of. Not literally, of course, we can pay our mortgage and put food on the table and keep the lights on. But, honestly, beyond that, not much! It was kinda scary to put together a realistic, not extravagant budget, that included saving for yearly payments (property taxes, vacation) and minimum payments on debt, only to realize that to pay everything would put us in the hole $430 every month. We're not congress, we obviously can't do that. And with Big Monkey's insane schedule at work making earning extra income and still being a presence in Half Pint's life not possible, it looks like it will fall to me to pick up the slack.

I'll start, of course, by working my full hour allotment at work (show hours being purely bonus and will go towards saving our emergency fund and then straight toward debt payments). But I'm also going to get serious about pursuing consultant work (I guess that's what it is. Maybe you know a better term.) in organizing and personal shopping.

I'm calling it "Needle In A Haystack" and the tag line is "Finding the Perfect Item for you, for your loved ones." I'll offer both personal shopping services (drawing on my many years of retail work and prop shopping for theater) and home/office organizing help (from my years of management, planning, and obsession with details). $50/hour with a $20 initial consultation applicable towards final bill. Packages available, corporate discount offered.

I would love to start with 2 jobs per week, totaling about 8 hours. Even setting aside a percentage for taxes, I should easily be able to make up the difference in our budget without breaking the time bank with either Half Pint or Big Monkey.

You're the second person I've told about this idea (the first being Big Monkey, of course) so I'd love feedback. Or a referral! I think I may have really found my Hedgehog Concept (you haven't read Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap? Shame on you!) and am excited to see how great it can be.